The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Detroit Lions players heading into their matchup with the Green Bay Packers to help you craft a winning lineup.
Jared Goff, QB
Jared Goff finishing with 279 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns last week was an impressive showing when you consider what Jahmyr Gibbs was doing on the ground.
We’ve seen his pass attempt count tick up every week since Dan Campbell took over playcalling duties, and with the balance of this run game, I like the projectable efficiency of Goff moving forward.
The interception last week was off the hands of Amon-Ra St. Brown in the red zone: the final stat line would look different if that drive finished with a touchdown, which happens more often than not.
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Jameson Williams getting shut out was curious, but Goff funneling 65.8% of his targeted passes to St. Brown or Gibbs is encouraging. This is a loaded offense that traditionally thrives when playing inside, and with them showing strong signs of concentration, I’ve got this labeled as a top 5 offense for the remainder of the season.
This Packers defense can create chaos at a high level, but I’m looking for Campbell to scheme up a quick-hitting attack, and I think that plays well. Give me Goff as a top 10 QB in the first game of the week.
David Montgomery, RB
This backfield has been labeled as “Sonic and Knuckles” in the past, and the combined production is nearly identical to where we sat at this time a year ago:
Jamhyr Gibbs + David Montgomery
- Through 12 weeks, 2025: 375.7 PPR points, 1,462 rushing yards
- Through 12 weeks, 2024: 386.5 PPR points, 1,518 rushing yards
But I think the plural ending might have to go on Jahmyr Gibbs’ part of the nickname moving forward because he’s the one doing the heavy lifting. Through 12 weeks last season, this was essentially a split, Gibbs holding a slim 180-169 edge in touches.
This season, however, he’s up 70 in the touch department and widening that gap weekly with Montgomery getting his hands on the ball a total of 15 times over the past two weeks.
We are now at “Sonics and Knuckle” as far as I’m concerned, and the latter is a long shot to reach fantasy lineups at this point (his last 20+ yard run came in Week 3). His experience and savvy have a role in this offense, but not in the fantasy space: every backfield touch that doesn’t go to Gibbs feels like a win for the defense, and Dan Campbell is not one to shy away from leaning hard into what he believes.
Jahmyr Gibbs, RB
Well, congratulations on having a red-hot fantasy team that you feel better about today than you did a month ago.
Jahmyr Gibbs was playing on a different speed than the Giants last week (14.6 yards per carry on 15 attempts) and ran in multiple scores for the third time in five weeks.
Add in an 87.3% catch rate for the season and being the apple of Dan Campbell’s eye in terms of design, it’s easy to see a path in which Gibbs carries you to the promised land.
This matchup is a little more prohibitive than the one he exploited last week, and at a minimum, the Packers are familiar with Detroit’s personnel. That doesn’t mean they can stop him (he caught all 10 of his passes against them in Week 1, a dominating Green Bay victory that they were thrilled with how they defended him), but it does give you the excuse to avoid the Thanksgiving DFS chalk, maybe.
Gibbs’ name is on the short list for 1.01 options in August, and he currently has more support.
Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR
Early on last week, Amon-Ra St. Brown forced a DPI in the end zone. I always hate those things when I have the receiver: not only do I not get points, I likely lose any chance to score because a rushing score is coming, which tilts the game in favor of that offense and pushes them one step closer to a run-centric script.
Yes, it’s loud inside my head when watching football.
Before I had time to dwell on all those negative thoughts, the Lions committed a penalty, got back to the 11-yard line, and threw a screen pass to their WR1.
Touchdown.
It was his ninth TD catch of the season and ended up being the fifth time in six games in which he earned at least 10 targets. During this run, he’s seen Jahmyr Gibbs’ explosions and duds, Jameson Williams’ usage peaks and valleys, and Dan Campbell going from being an observer to play caller.
Long story short, there’s nothing you can do to slow him down. St. Brown comes preloaded with a floor that ranks among the three best in the sport, and that’ll make him a surefire first-round pick next season.
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The Packers have held him under 60 receiving yards in three straight meetings and you could tell yourself that they have him figured out. That they have the blueprint.
I look at it as more of St. Brown gaining knowledge as to what won’t work and thus trending closer to what will.
This should be a fun one to open the holiday, though I think it’ll be far more fun for those with him rostered than those hoping those recent team-vs-player stats stick.
Jameson Williams, WR
Jameson Williams is averaging just 4.8 targets per game this season and has shown us a wide range of outcomes in November alone (shut out last week on the heels of consecutive games with 19+ PPR points).
That’s not going to change.
That said, the tail outcome we saw last week shouldn’t factor too much into your decision-making for this week or the remainder of the season. In Weeks 1-6, the Packers ranked 1st in YPA on long passes (7.0 yards), but since then they rank 25th (12.6).
I do not believe that he’s a serious only threat (his aDOT is actually down 29.3% since Dan Campbell took over the playcalling), but this matchup does carry more one-play upside than you might assume.
Xavier Worthy is functionally being worked out of the offensive plan in Kansas City, and I don’t think that’s the case here, even if it’s easy to lump speed receivers next to one another. I have Williams over Worthy by a dozen spot,s and that lands him as a WR2 in Week 13.
Sam LaPorta, TE
“Very, very slim” was how Dan Campbell described the chances of us seeing Sam LaPorta (back) again in 2025, and that means you can safely move on from the third-year tight end.
LaPorta still has another year left on his deal, and with his age-25 season coming up for a team that wants to chase annual success, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the organization is proceeding with caution.
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Brock Wright will continue to fill the TE role on this offense. However, prevailing wisdom suggests that their three elite skill position players (Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Jahmyr Gibbs) will continue to do the heavy lifting, with the TE position as a whole more of an afterthought/complementary piece.
